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Deputies Call For Inquiry Into Chile's Pascua Lama Project

by Monica EvansValparaiso Times, EL CIUDADANO

A report revealing drastic destruction of glaciers last week prompted deputies in the Chamber of Deputies, Valpara�so, to call for an inquiry into the Pascua Lama mining project.

Canadian-based transnational Barrick Gold�s �Pascua Lama� gold mining project, which straddles the Chilean-Argentine border in the Andes mountain range, has provoked strong local, national and international criticism since its inception. Critics worry about the project�s environmental and social impacts (VT, June 10).

However, the Chilean government approved the project last year, on the grounds that the three glaciers that sit atop the mining site � Toro I, Toro II and Esperanza � not be damaged.

But a report released by the General Water Directorship (DGA) in 2002 � but generally unknown until mainstream TV channel Teletrece publicised the findings last week �reveals that the three glaciers had already receded by 50 to 70 percent during the project�s exploratory phase.

According to the report, Barrick Gold removed snow and put down sand in glaciers Toro I and Toro II to build a road. In glacier Esperanza, the company made perforations in 150 sites to analyse the mineral composition of the rocks below, which covered the glacier in powder. As Latin American Environmental Conflicts Observatory (OCLA) director Lucio Cuenca explains, a millimetre of powdered material on the surface of a glacier has accelerates its melting by around 15 percent.

Barrick Gold representative Rodrigo Jim�nez shrugged off the findings, saying �This is a preliminary report� the melting is due to global warming.�

Osvaldo �vila, from Atacama�s Regional Council for the Environment (COREMA), disagrees. �Some losses relate to global warming, but there is absolutely no doubt that the exploration and prospecting activities which damaged these ice masses with roads and powdered material had an impact as well.�

What remains unclear is why the report�s findings were not included in COREMA�s Environmental Impact Report, presented prior to the project�s approval. Says Cuenca, �The authorities had full knowledge about these findings, and they didn�t take them into account.� Said Dep. Enrique Accorsi, �A report like this can�t be ignored in the project evaluation process. It�s a completely valid report.�

The official explanation is that, according to current laws, authorities can�t consider the impact of pre-project explorations in their reports. �It�s a gap in our legislation,� said �vila.

On Wednesday, a number of deputies, along with the environment minister and a Barrick Gold representative, met with a delegation of community leaders from the Huasco province (where the mine is located) in a special session in Valpara�so�s Senate buildings.

The delegation asked that an inquiry be made into irregularities in the project�s approval process, and that the project be paralyzed until such investigations reached a conclusion.

Many deputies responded favorably to the delegation�s request, taking on the task of bidding for an inquiry. �We�re obliged to do so when the authorities in charge of watching over the environment are caught up in such irregular situations,� said Dep. Roberto Sep�lveda.

43 deputies must enlist their approval for a formal inquiry to take place. Meanwhile, the environment minister will make her own report on the issue on July 12.

 

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